


paint me violet and call me yours

by All_out_of_love_and_pizza



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Laith, M/M, anyway, brief mention to adam, enjoy pls, keith and lance are besties, keith is a piney boi, klance, lance is more of a longing boi, pidge and hunk are besties, shiro is sad, so adashi, they like each other so much, very sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-20
Updated: 2018-10-20
Packaged: 2019-08-04 16:18:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16349975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/All_out_of_love_and_pizza/pseuds/All_out_of_love_and_pizza
Summary: Based on art by @coolnonsenseworld on tumblr!The Paladins and Keith travel to a planet holding a celebration where you join with the people closest to your heart and express or reaffirm your emotions and feelings by vibrant baby blue paint over each other. The paint changes color upon skin contact based on the current emotions they feel towards one another—it might be anger (dark blue), or disappointment (orange), a happy, bubbly feeling (green), a feeling of belonging to a home (red), or close friendship (yellow)! Usually there are a few colors at the same time, solid colors only appearing when the person is overwhelmed by an emotion.Keith and Lance don’t know exactly what this violet color means, but they should find out when they see it all over the couples.





	paint me violet and call me yours

**Author's Note:**

> Based on this post by coolnonsenseworld on tumblr http://coolnonsenseworld.tumblr.com/post/179210067331/on-this-planet-you-celebrate-with-people-that-are
> 
> I wanted shiro to think about Adam, so the Kuron thing never happened XD I’m lazy like that.  
> I’m on tumblr as Awakebyawindow! Come say hello!  
> Enjoy!

It began as any day would, with crusty eyes, soft sheets and that almost but not quite enough stretch that one does when one is just waking up. It began with the artificial lights of the castle slowly brightening in each room to ease everyone from slumber, and it began with Lance throwing his pillow over his head and refusing to acknowledge the day until he was good and ready to. But when he was, he threw off his pillow and his blankets and sheets and made off to the bathroom to shower, and ready himself for another morning. 

It began mostly the same for Keith, except Keith woke before the lights bade him to, and he woke with his hands fisted in the sheets and sweat running down his body, and there was no stretch, no pillow over face as he slammed the covers aside and marched to the bathroom. He turned the faucet on cold and splashed it all over his face. 

“Cmon. Cmon! We agreed,” he told himself, grabbing the cold counter in front of him. “No more of...those. It doesn’t help anything.”  
But his brain, as it did almost all the time, didn’t listen to him, and it dredged up images from his dream. 

Blue eyes, dark brown lashes framing them, and two freckles perched innocently under the left eye, looking up at him. They smiled, and there was an emotion in them, that made the blue dance. And Keith didn’t know what the emotion was but he knew he wanted those eyes to look at him like that in real life. Lance’s eyes. 

Keith groaned and threw more water in his face. 

When Lance was finished with his shower and his toner and that one weird altean spray that Allura told him would make his skin as soft as the underside of a Sklernhak( he wasn’t sure what a Sklernhak was but it sounded soft), he headed down to the kitchen room and served himself up some goo, sitting at the table, Pidge across from him and Allura to his left. 

They were talking about some planet they would be visiting that day, but Lance was content to not join the conversation. So he ate, idly listening to them talk about paint and colors, and waited for Keith to show up. 

And Keith did, eventually, after throwing himself deep into training for the last two hours until everyone else would be awake. Being around the team was slightly weird right now, as he was only here on a visit and in another day he would have to return to the Blade and leave them behind again. He knew they didn’t hold his leaving against him, he did, but sometimes he caught a flash of hurt in Pidge’s eyes, or Hunk turned from him just a second too fast, or Lance grew very quiet when someone mentioned it, and it all felt very raw, and Keith didn’t know how to soothe those hurts. Didn’t know anything except he was causing them. 

But he could go to breakfast and he could talk to Lance, who, over his time at the blade had become his very best friend due to incessantly calling and messaging him, and he could act like he didn’t have to leave in a day, and that everything was fine, and that he didn’t have dreams about his best friend that hurt his chest when he woke up because they weren’t real. He could do all of those things, and would. 

So he trudged into the kitchen and grabbed goo, and pretended he didn’t feel his heart clench as Lance’s eyes brightened when he sat down next to him. 

“Good morning Keith!” The other boy chirped, always so awake. “Are you ready for another planet to wow? To dazzle? To impress?” And he cocked an eyebrow as he crookedly grinned. 

Keith smiled a little and murmured a “always” as he dug into his food. 

“You alright? You look tired?” Lance asked, harmlessly, and yet Keith had to fight back a cringe.

“Yeah, m’fine, just got up early for some training.” 

Lance smiled again. “Aha! Just your usual samurai nonsense, then.”

A chuckle. “Yeah.”

———

“Soooo,” Lance drawled. “Why are we going to this planet again?”

Allura pressed some buttons as they readied the ship to land. “Because we all need a little break, and it is Keith’s last day with us,” Some frowns around the room. “And because today is a very special festival for this planet. It is called The Day of Colors, and during the ceremony, everyone picks someone close to them and paints them with this light blue paint, which then—“

“Okay, okay, I get it. It’s a painty, color...y, thing.” Lance said again, but his voice was tight and Keith noted that he was one of the frowns. 

Allura’s mouth tightened, but she seemed to also gather that Lance was upset, and she didn’t push the matter further as they began the descent to the planet. 

Cheering, there was cheering everywhere as the paladins exited the castle and entered the crowd of aliens. Keith wasn’t sure if he was being dramatic or not, but he was pretty certain that a shadow covered him, hiding him from sight. Which was only fair, he wasn’t a paladin anymore. But it still hurt when they all walked on ahead, shining, happy, and Keith was left to hurry after. Even Lance was caught up in the celebration, and didn’t seem to notice him at all. 

Lance noticed, of course he did (when did he not notice Keith) when Keith hung back, standing in the shadow of a hovering ship. And he tried to backtrack, but the crowd caught him until he couldn’t see the other boy at all. 

So he waited until they were all in what he assumed was the town square, moments before the “official start of The Coloring” which he wasn’t sure what that meant, and then he caught sight of Keith and grabbed his wrist, dragging him into the middle of the square with the rest of the team. 

“What are you doing?” Keith hissed, glancing worriedly at what seemed to be the leader of these aliens. “I’m not supposed to be up here.”

Lance snorted “Yeah, right. You’re a paladin, Keith. Being in the Blade doesn’t change that,” he turned to look at the other boy and prayed that his expression wasn’t too soft or...longing. “You’re with m—with us.”

Keith’s face smoothed over and he smiled a little. “Um. Okay.”

Lance grinned. “Good.”  
And they turned their attention back to the officials as they began handing out little pots of paint to the paladins. 

“Alright!” The leader clapped their four hands together with glee and gestured broadly to the people. “Begin!”

A cheer went up as everyone grabbed someone and slathered paint onto their faces, laughing. 

Um, Lance was a little confused. He leaned closer to Keith. “Buddy? What’s happening? I was too busy looking for your stupid mullet to pay attention.”

Keith scowled jokingly at Lance. “You pick someone close to you and paint them, and then one the paint in on your skin, it turns a different color based on the emotion you’re feeling.”

“Ohhh. Okay.” 

They turned back to the team and saw everyone already pairing up. Hunk with Pidge, Coran with Allura, and Shiro was standing a bit off to the side, a wistful smile on his face. 

Lance grabbed Keith’s wrist again. And looked at him. So easy to look at him. “You, um, you wanna be my partner, Samurai?” He grinned. 

“Yeah, of course.” Keith smiled and lance looked at it a second too long so he coughed and turned his face. 

Keith nudged him with his shoulder, jostling the pot of baby blue paint in his hands. “You gonna paint me or what?”

Lance laughed. “Oh I’m gonna paint you so much better than you could ever paint!”

Laughing, Keith dodged Lance’s paint covered fingers as they attempted to cover his face. “Are you sure about that, sharpshooter? I think you’re too chicken!”

“Oho! I’m gonna make you eat those words, mullet!” 

And so they shoved at each other until finally Keith slathered some paint on Lance’s forehead and Lance managed to get some on Keith’s ear, they were both laughing as it slowly morphed into a soft violet color. 

Lance, still laughing, asked “what does violet mean?”

Keith frowned a little but his lips still wanted to smile. “I don’t know, anger was dark blue, friendship was yellow, disappointment was orange? I think. And green was happiness, and belonging is red. That’s all I heard before you dragged me up here.”

“Oh, well, whatever. I don’t need paint to tell me you’re my bff!” The taller boy said, still smiling and violet smeared over his face. 

Keith choked. “Please tell me you didn’t just say “BFF”. Only middle schoolers say that, Lance!”

“‘Only middle schoolers say that, Lance!’” Lance said mockingly. “Ugh, whatever, Keith! People still say that.” 

“No, no they don’t!” Keith fired back. And they join the party and people, paint covered, began to dance. 

The sun was just beginning to set when they sat down, covered in sweat but the paint still intact somehow, and the world was washed in bright reds and oranges, the sunset very much like that of earths. They were panting from the lively group dances and still giggling from some joke that Lance had said, their arms pressed together. 

And it was then that, at the same moment, their eyes caught on a young pair of aliens, pressed into a passionate and happy kiss. And all over their arms was a paint of violet. 

They stilled their laughter, but neither noticed the others silence, as their eyes darted to another couple, this one bashfully holding hands. Hands swirled with violet. Another, dancing slowly together, faces burning with blushes and smeared with...violet paint. 

Everywhere they looked, violet, only on those who were lovingly joined. Only on...couples. 

And they raised their eyes, together and slowly, to each other. To the violet paint on Lance’s forehead and cheeks, to the paint on Keith’s ear and jaw. 

Keith had never seen Lance’s face so soft and open. So lovely. And with shock, he realized that Lance was looking at him like he had in his dream. 

And Lance could hardly think because Keith’s lips were parted ever so slightly in shock, and his eyes were so bright.  
And the sun set further, washing the town in a beautiful violet.  
Neither of them are sure who moved first, but one moment they were sitting there, softly staring at each other, and the next their lips were softly pressed together.  
The violet sky glowed brightly as bright floating lanterns filled the sky, a part of the ceremony.  
Pidge and Hunk were studying some sort of robot cat, their hands and arms covered in bright yellow, shot through with green.  
Allura and Coran were dancing happily with huge groups of aliens, laughing delightedly at the lanterns, faces covered in green and red and yellow.  
Shiro was talking politely with an ambassador, and as the alien walked away from him, he smiled softly at those covered in violet paint, and he remembered warm mornings cuddled up to someone, he remembered glasses that never say quite straight on a face, and he remembered warm honey skin, and late nights, and soft kisses. And he remembered the man he would have painted in the brightest violet. And promised himself that when he got back to earth, he would.  
And Lance was pulling gently away from Keith’s lips, just enough to whisper: “don’t go. Stay here, with me. Don’t go back.”  
Keith was whispering “yes” and then pulling the other boy back in. 

And as everyone rejoiced and danced and laughed, no one noticed the pair tucked together on a bench, kissing with reckless joy, and softly touching the violet paint on each other’s faces. 

So it began like any other day would, but it wasn’t like any other day, not at all.


End file.
